Frank Hubeny

After Eden

Was it the tree? Was it our choice
to be like gods that day?
That fruit, recall, did not agree.
Perhaps it really was the tree
when we did not obey.

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Previously published in Poet’s Corner.

Scott believed the universe was eternal because he didn’t want God to get credit for starting it and thereby interfere with his autonomy. However, entropies of all sorts undermined the theory taunting him with the thought that if an eternal universe were going to fall apart over time, as Scott believed it would, then it would have fallen apart long ago. As consolation he told himself that scientists would one day figure it all out so every rational person would have to agree with him.

Tommy asked him, “What about eternal life?”

Scott spoke slowly allowing the weight of his authority to dominate before declaring that both of them would be “eternally dead” in a few short decades adding, “and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“Then your eternity’s not worth much,” Tommy replied.

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Denise offers the word “eternal” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

Lest We Forget

Dale offers the theme “lest we forget” for this Week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge.

The stones help us to remember.

May His law be written on all our hearts (Hebrews 8) so there will be no cause for war.

Cornerstone from an old armory, Northbrook, Illinois

Breakfast At The Outdoor Café

She brings coffee and croissants to eat
while fat pigeons peck food at my feet
seeking crumbs out of love
I might drop from above
as I search for her smile when we greet.

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Previously published at Poet’s Corner.

Seagulls, not pigeons, coming in for the crumbs

Pigs In The Parlor

What would you do if you found pigs in your parlor? You would likely want to get rid of them blocking the ways they used to enter your living room. This is your parlor, not theirs.

The same goes for the demonic.

The pigs (demons) need to leave. The entry points (sin) we opened for them need to be shut. We are temples of the Holy Spirit. May His gifts manifest and may the fruit ripen to full maturity within us.

That is the motivation of Frank and Ida Mae Hammond in their 1973 book, Pigs In The Parlor: The Practical Guide To Deliverance.

What is deliverance? As they mentioned on page 88, “We must remember that salvation is the most basic form of deliverance; it is the deliverance of a man’s spirit.” The Greek word is soteria (σωτηρία). The Hebrew word for deliverance, that is, salvation, is Yeshua (ישוע).

After passing that word through Latin, Greek and Aramaic His name becomes in English: Jesus.

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Frank Hammond gave sermons on deliverance at Lake Hamilton Bible Camp in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Below is an audio file of one sermon for those who want to go into this in more detail. In the last ten minutes of the audio he goes through four steps in a prayer to release one in the name of Jesus from the power of curses.

Play – Six Sentence Story

John loved to play the game of making faces when posing for family photos like crossing his eyes or pursing his lips. He was at the age when children found funny faces funny and even his father and mother thought he was cute.

None of that would have mattered except for the strife dividing his family over the next decades which opened doors for the demonic to flow agitating any form of weakness it could find. Nor would he have remembered any of it had he not inherited his mother’s photo album. The photos reminded him where he came from shoving in his face a demand for repentance for his part, large or small, in the mess they were now in.

John wished he gave his mother a beautiful smile when he had the chance and not some goofy expression, but when he looked at the other photos in the album a childlike smile of release appeared on his now aging face as he realized that most of the time, indeed nearly all of the time, he had.

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Denise offers the prompt word “play” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

For more on the demonic see Frank and Ida Mae Hammond’s Pigs in the Parlor.

Ancient Roman Tile Uncovered At Beit She’an

Art For Art’s Sake

Dale offers the prompt “art for art’s sake” for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge.

Hopefully these fit the prompt. There was functional art involved in the construction of these pavements. Someone decided how to place the tiles in one way rather than another and how to position the boulders and gravel.

I pretended to caption the photos as if they were abstract paintings in a museum painted by an artist whose name I can no longer remember.

Energy – Six Sentence Story

Guilt followed the pride of life dissipating Zach’s energy. That may have been a good thing since he was wasting his time on stuff that didn’t matter.

But what mattered? Zack was just a simple guy with a conscience informing him that he had lost his way. To get back on track he ran after one godforsaken enlightenment program until it disappointed him giving it up for some other gnostic nonsense.

I can’t tell you how Zach found his way home because I am in the same hog pen that you are refusing to eat the miraculous pearls which allegedly would provide living energy that could not be equated with matter no matter how fast the speed of light was.

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Denise offers the prompt word “energy” for this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

I was thinking of those pearls and swine in Matthew 7:6 when E=mc² came to mind. The “I” in the story is the narrator running his mouth pretending to be the author.

Spooky?

Dale offers the prompt “spooky” for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge.

I wonder if the generated PGF TikZ graphics are spooky. I call them galaxies.

They’re probably not spooky enough, so I’ve included a photo of a spider. It looks like a face with black eyes and an evil smile.

Overcast evenings sometimes evoke a spooky sensation. So I’ve included one of them as well.

Branch – Six Sentence Story

The squirrel rushed to the other side of the tree along a branch far from Peter as he grouched his way down the path. There was no need for all this grumbling, but being thankful he could even walk seemed like a waste of time since he had no trouble walking.

The sunrise was peaceful. The sea was calm, but he was entertaining enough demonic influences to have a whole Halloween party by himself.

Eventually – unless the slippery slope had its way – Peter would tell those demons where to go, but he did so much enjoy a whiny fit of righteousness. Like the other inanities he entertained they came to spoil the day under the pretense they were making it better.

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Denise offers the prompt word “branch” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.